Brad Hazzard, New South Wales’ state health minister, stated that the current situation is due to inability to obtain the vaccine we need.
According to Gladys Berejiklian, the state premier made the decision to extend lockdown until July 16.
Berejiklian stated that the lockdown was being extended because there were still cases of the disease in the community.
Most children won’t return to school next week after their mid-year break due to the extension of the lockdown.
Officials said that only 13 of 27 new cases of the delta variant were isolated while infected. The original coronavirus and other variants are considered to be more contagious than those of the delta variant.
Only 9% are fully vaccinated in Australia, increasing fears that the delta variant could rapidly spread.
Berejiklian believed that lockdowns wouldn’t be needed once the vast majority of Australians had been vaccinated.
A limousine driver who was infected on June 16th has been linked to more than 300 cases of infection. It is believed that he was infected while transporting an American flight crew from Sydney airport.
Nearly half of Australia’s population was locked down last week by cities on the east, north, and west coasts, who tightened pandemic restrictions because of clusters. Some lockdowns lasted as little as three days.
Sydney and its environs are the last parts of Australia that are still under lockdown.
Australia has had a relatively easy time containing pandemic clusters, with fewer than 31,000 deaths and 910 cases.
Australia has only recorded one COVID-19-related death since October. It was an 80-year old man who died in April after contracting the disease from overseas. He had been quarantined in a hotel.
There are now 37 COVID-19 patients in Sydney hospitals. Seven of those are in intensive care. The youngest is in his 30s.